True Meaning
by tuntuck14
Summary: A short story i wrote for my coursework about a man trying to find himself but comes across a few surprises..


Michael Sullivan Year 10 English Original Writing Ms Goldman

**True Meaning**

The blood trickled down my withered, shaking hand. The screaming of a thousand souls tortured my conscience. Absorbing the atmosphere, I recognised my actions. The corpse shrivelled on the floor like a crippled spider. The distant streetlights glistened in the victims' eyes. The silence was deafening me. Unable to control my thoughts, my ... disturbing thoughts, I fled like a startled wilde-beast into the abyss.

In a cold sweat, I arose from under my bedcovers and clutched my head. The pain was agonising but pleasurable in a strange way, it felt comforting. I searched for the reason of the constant torture in my head, but couldn't find the memories which would cause such an illness. Was it an illness, or just pain? I opened the oak closet to scuffle around for any clothes, I found some but I wish I didn't. My favourite jeans... blood stained and ripped as if they had been in a shredder. I was seeing things, I was sure of it. To clear my head I stumbled toward the bathroom for a shower. Water rushed over my scoured hair and wrecked posture. The pain subsided but only for a second, I closed my eyes and opened them again. Red liquid poured down the drain hole. Red? I was covered in blood. I choked but manage to withhold my sickness. Leaping out of the shower, I glanced into the mirror but didn't recognise the person staring back at me. His face was gaunt, his skin was pale and submerged in scratches and bruises but the most terrifying thing was his eyes. Eyes filled with fire and revenge. What the hell had happened to me? Drunken night out? Mugged? Attacked? Whatever did happen was a mystery, but the real question was, do I really desire to regain the memories of such an awful event?

She stood in front of me; just a little girl of such a small life but this didn't matter. All that matters is my wants, my dreams and my actions. My mind ravaged with ideas, ideas which would make a human sick to their stomach and their throat collapse. Staring at me, the girl's face was petrified and paralyzed, unable to lift herself from the nightmare, trying to wake up. I shuffled towards her, closer, closer, until I felt her breath on my face, her cold, refreshing breath. The rage built up in my veins, I could feel it within my soul. A howl broke out from my lips as I stared at the full moon. Nothing had felt so good in my whole life, as I revelled in such excitement; the girl broke out of my aura and disappeared into the night. A glimpse of her shining blond hair gave away her position and her life. My legs sprung my being onto the rooftops as I kept my eye on the devil in disguise. I ran on air, on the wind, on the clouds. Homing on her, I launched myself on top of her, she squirmed but to no effect. Screams echoed down the alleyways and pulsated around the village. Dim spots of lights appeared in the distance as the population shivered from the ear piercing shriek. The hoard of worried strangers enclosed around my co-ordinates as I evaporated into the shadows. I sprinted as fast as my legs would take me, my destination unknown but I needed get away. The blood hunt gets increasingly thrilling each time and I love it. Every time I kill, I live. Licking the remaining drops of red fluid around my mouth, I smiled. The taste of blood is sweet, isn't it?

The light of day pierced my eyes and burnt my retinas, as I clutched at the ground around me, reaching for a substance which would give me some idea of my surroundings. I lifted my head with monumental effort but my body just gave out, with all of my strength, I just couldn't move. For what felt like an eternity, I lay there, trapped in my own body, almost unconcious, waiting for something... anything to happen. A cold wave swept over me and i became enlivened, my sight cleared, my muscles agile, and i could comprend the world. Coated in rats and trash, i leaped onto my feet and assimilated my position, I had been resting in a dusty, grimy alleyway for god knows how long, but what was I doing here and what the hell had happened to me? Hesitantly, I obseved myself and regretted it in an instant, my torso was in rags, my skin torn, my flesh mangled. Revolted to my very core is an understatement, no words could describe how much I wanted to scream out in anguish, but i swallowed it and bit my tongue. Tears streamed down my face as I fell to my knees, at this point I welcomed death to make me to feel numb but at peace.

Suddenly, a sillouette emerged from the shadows and enticed me to follow it. Bedazzled, I scratched at my eyes but when I glanced back at where the figure previously stood, it had gone as quickly as it appeared. For the first time ever, I was scared. Was I seeing things? Was the light playing tricks upon my mind? Or was I simply going insane? Adamant in the fact that I was whole-minded, I pursued the being to settle my psyche and re-assure myself of my mental state. The revenant moved at the same speed as I, and my speed was beyond even my understanding, not even I could grasp the sheer power of myself but I trusted my pure instincts as they were the only things I had intact. Without warning, my neck collapsed as I was tossed into a gaping canyon by an unnatural force, measurable to my own. The air punched me in the face as I plummeted towards the ground at an excessive velocity, the jagged walls etched and grazed me until the meat was ripped from my bones and left me broken, beat and scarred. All at once, everything ceased from motion. Silence. I jerked my eyes open to see the very figure I had been tailing, and i could sense that it was looking directly into my eyes, into my soul. "I know what you are, even if you don't acknowledge it." It spoke to me in a whisper. Frustrated and deeply confused, I responded, "What are you on about? and who the hell are you?". With a twitch, it whisked off what seemed to be a robe, but it just vanished into thin air. Her glistening red hair fell down to her shoulders and reflected light with upmost grace, her clothes reflected her eyes, beautiful and transfixing. Her dress hung onto her with such finesse and style, taylored to match her slight body. Snapping back into conciousness I realised that it was her how launched me into this pit and it puzzled me how someone so petite could harness such power. However, I knew nothing yet and I was eager to find out, whatever it takes, I needed answers. "My name is Mel, and we need your help. Follow me and i'll explain everything." Having no other choice but to submit to her, i trudged behind her as she walked through a despairing corridor leading to heaven knows where. Upon the journey there was nothing but silence, a rare event seeing as my hearing abilites have always been sharper than the average human, so I bathed in the muteness until it was broken by my compainion. The hallways were draped in paintings and banners with many strange creatues and drawings upon them, some of them rather gory and others could camoflage in a nursey without suspicion. The floor sparkled with a vigil demeanor as if it was an illusion playing on innocent minds, twisting them into horror and darkness. Mel walked down here with such belonging as if she had been here all of her life. She was young, in her early twenties it seemed, but her eyes looked older, as if she had seen so much of the world and contained within them such wisdom. Her body and stance glowed with such life and vitality, her footwork, so precise and amble, glided over the hard, wood floor as if it was a cloud.

Arriving at giant, beautifully carved doors, Mel barked what seemed to be an ancient language which became loss in time but remained in the minds of a few select people. With a deafening roar, the doors screeched open by their own means and unveiled an elegant thone room with glistening gold and siver covering almost every visable surface. The thing that disturbed me though was the wall behind the throne, upon which a crest had been implanted on, and it terrified me. A figure, half man, half beast was poised on top of a hill of bones with children bowing down to it, worshipping the monster. The creature, glass of red liquid in hand, was ripped apart, missing parts of limbs and features but it was smiling as if pleasured by it, or just smiling for the sheer excitement of being a god. Underneath a text read, "_Homo homini lupus est", _upon reading this I squealed silently, as a tattoo, positioned on the small of my back, spoke those exact words. _"Man is a wolf to man". _

"You are what is known as a lycanthrope, or a werewolf, which is what I am" _What? Werewolf? Was this woman messing with me or is she mentally unstable? _"You were separated from our civilisation when you were a child during the great war 500 years ago, I see you have not aged much. The werewolfs were thought to have died out in the war and became forgotten through the generations but obviously not, there is you and there is I". As she muttered these words to me, it all began to make sense. The thirst for meat, the hightened senses and strength, the agility which I posess, the nightmares... The nightmares, were not nightmares at all but a very real experience of which have repeated in my mind forever and will etch myself as a monsterous being of destruction. My family died when I was very young, a child in fact, but I struggle to find a memory of them, of their faces or emotions, for all I knew, this woman was telling the truth, maybe I was a hellbound brute who was born five centuries ago but i didn't care, all i wanted was for everything to be over, everything to finish.

I turned to leave but she clawed my arms and restrained me, "We are the only two werewolves in existance, we have to stick together!" I once again turned towards the door and she screamed in my face, "I am your lover! Your real name is Ulric Mentha and the only remaining male bloodline of the Great King Eric! How dare you turn your back on your own race!" Her voice echoed down the halls and rung in my ears. This woman, my lover? At last I had found somebody who I could belong with, but it was too late. I was disgusted with myself, with her, with this place... This was it, this was the end. Shuffling my feet, I faced her, gazed into her eyes and whispered, "We belong together, and we should be together, in life as in death". I extended my silver knife which I kept consealed and plunged it into her chest and my own, causing blood to leak upon myself. She choked, gasping and spluttering for air, she breathed, "I love you", as her grip on me loosened and her knees buckled. She collasped to the floor in a pool of red ink as the colour drained from her lips and face, her legs flailed as I collapsed on top of her in a heap and held her tightly to my body. I clutched the back of her head and moved it towards my own. Firmly, I kissed her, stroking her cheek and wiping away her tears; The only person whom I felt was the same as I, was laying in my arms as I rocked her from side to side gently and the light faded from her eyes. Finally, I lost control of my body and fell next to her, my hand still caressing hers with the smallest of touches, as one last teardrop fell from my eye.


End file.
